Certain types of commodity and/or industrial items can be packaged by placing the desired product(s) in a covering material, then applying a closure clip or clips to end portions of the covering material to secure the product(s) therein. For non-flowable piece goods, the piece goods can be held individually in a respective clipped package, or as a group of goods in a single package. The covering material can be any suitable material, typically a casing and/or netting material.
For example, the systems include a netting chute that holds a length of a netting sleeve over the exterior thereof. A first downstream end portion of the netting is typically gathered and clipped closed using a first clip. As the product exits the netting chute, it is covered with the netting. The trailing edge of netting can be gathered (upstream of the product) and clipped, typically using a Tipper Tie® single or double clipper apparatus. A clip attachment apparatus or “clippers” are well known to those of skill in the art and include those available from Tipper Tie, Inc., of Apex, N.C., including product numbers Z3214, Z3202, and Z3200. Examples of clip attachment apparatus and/or packaging apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,389,533; 3,499,259; 4,683,700; and 5,161,347, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
The double clipper concurrently applies two clips to the netting proximate the open (upstream) end of the package. One clip defines the first end portion of the next package and the other defines the trailing or second end portion of the package then being closed. A cutting mechanism incorporated in the clipper apparatus can sever the two packages before the enclosed package is removed from the clipper apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,713 describes a double clipper apparatus used to apply two clips to a casing covering. U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,701 proposes a clipper with a clip attachment mechanism configured to selectively fasten a single clip or two clips simultaneously. The mechanism has two punches, one of which is driven directly by a pneumatic cylinder and the other of which is connected to the first punch using a pin and key assembly. The pin and key assembly allows the punches to be coupled or decoupled to the pneumatic cylinder drive to apply one single clip or two clips simultaneously. U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,424 proposes an apparatus for movement of U-shaped clips along a rail. The apparatus includes a clip feed for advancing clips on a guide rail and the arm is reciprocally driven by a piston and cylinder arrangement. The contents of each of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
Other systems and devices provide for semi-automated or automated clipping as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/339,910 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,102) and co-assigned, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/951,578 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,313,896) and Ser. No. 10/952,421 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,369), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/339,910 describes a device with a chute that is configured to package a product, such as a vacuum-packed turkey, and can also form a handle in a tubular covering encasing the product.